Swimming harness



H. L. SMITHI SWIMMING HARNESS. I APPUCATION FILED JUNE 7.1921,. 1,428,683. Patented y 25,1922.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

WITNESS INVENTOR ATTORA/EY H. LQSMITH.

SWIMMING HARNESS.

APPLICATION mu) JUNE 7, 1921.

1A23fi33. Patented July 25, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.,

HENRY L'UND SMITH, 0F PATERSON, JERSEY.

SWIMMING HARNESS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 25, 1922 Application filed June 7, 1921. Serial n. 475,655.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY-Loni) SMITH, a'citizen of the United States, residing at Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Swimming Harness, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a device which will be helpful in swimming or learning to swim in that it will afford support to the usershead and keep his mouth above water without exerting any direct buoying effect on any other parts of his body, which are to be left quite as free as if any means for assisting in swimming were not present.

My invention is to be distinguished from so-called water-wings and devices of that class proposed for use in assisting to swim which act to buoy up the users torso but leave his head free to drop forward and hence his mouth to be submerged. It is also to be distinguished from mere life preservers which by affording artificial buoyancy at the back as well as at the front of the wearer, usually fitting around his neck, simply keep him upright, with his head above water, and in fact interfere with his taking any of the conventional positions for swimming.

The invention contemplates the employment in swimming harness of a buoyant member to fit under the wearers lower aw and girdling means to secure said member in that position. Said member according to my invention in its best form is elongated and shaped so as to taper toward both ends, thus to fit partially about the neck, and with its mid-portion flattened so as to appear vertically elongated and preferably inverted pearshaped in section. Practical experiments have shown that this form is very desirable because, while permitting the device to have adequate bulk for supporting the wearers mouth above water, it avoids undue forward projecting thereof which would be a source of actual embarrassment if not an impediment in swimming and so detract from the principal function of the device in assisting a learner to swim and besides cause the device to work up past the chin unless held unduly tight about the neck. Moreover, as will appear, the fiattening results in the lowest portion of the member when in place lying close to the wearer, and so it aifords at said portion a point of connection for a part of the girdling means which extends under the arms of the wearer that is very advantageous in keeping the said member from working out of place i The bouyant member may be made bonyant by being inflated or in any other way.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the harness; v

Figure 2 is a side, elevation of the buoyant portion 'of the harness;

Figures 3 and 4 are sections on the lines 3-3 and 4-4, respectively, of Figure 1; and

Figure 5 shows the harness in position on the wearer.

a designates the member to fit under the wearers lower jaw, the same being a bulb of flexible material, such as a suitable fabric impregnated with rubber, and being inflated. For the purpose of inflating this member when the harness is put in use it may have a valve device Z) of well known type in which the closing member or valve proper seats outwardly in closing or sealing when the interior pressure becomes greater than the exterior pressure. This member a is elongated and tapers toward both ends; it will be preferable also to give it a permanently curved shape as shown in Figures 1 and 5 so that .it conforms more or less to the wearers neck. It is further preferable that when it is in place it conform more or less to the profile of the wearers neck, and for this reason it is curved at the inner side (marked 0 in Figure 3) as seen in vertical cross section. Also, as seen in vertical section and as to its mid-portion, it is flattened, i.e., vertically elongated, being preferably inverted pear-shaped, the advantages of which have been already stated.

The girdling means in the illustrated eX- ample includes two principal members. One is a pair of straps (Z 03 each having one end suitably secured tothe ends of the member a and said straps being adapted to have their ends secured together at the back of the wearers neck, as by a buckle or clasp c. The other is a bandage member embodying in the present example a triangular breast portion j which is secured at its top edge in some suitable way to the front lowest portion of member a (which, on account of the described form of the member lies close to the wearers body, at

the base of the neck, when the memberis in place), and has extending laterally from its lower part the opposite straps g -which are passed under the wearers arms and tied be of such a character that when the device is in use the girdling means will insure member a being held permanently under the wea-rers lower jaw, as shown in Figure 5. I find the girdling means shown, and including means to be passed and secured around the wearers neck to thus draw or bring member a under the lower jaw and means adapted to be passed and secured around the'wearers body below the arms and attached to the member at its aforesaid front lowest position to thus keep the memher a from working laterally one way or the other out of place, to be Well adapted for this purpose.

It will be understood that in conformity with myobject herein set forth the girdling means shown is relatively non-buoyant.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

Swimming harness including an elongated member tapered toward-both ends and having its mid-portion flattened and adapted to bearflat against the wearers throat and up against his lower jaw and girdling means attached to said ends of the member and also to the lowest part of its said mid-portion and adapted to extend around the wearer to hold said member flat against his throat.

'In testimony whereof I affix my signature. 40

HENRY LUND SMITH. 

